Review of 2012

Wow – this is now our third annual end of year review, and once again we will be looking back at what went right and what didn't during 2012, as well as finishing up with our own personal favourites from the year. But where to start? So much happened in the year so let’s look at the new events and attractions that opened during the year:

The impressive batching room for Field of Screams at SpookyWorld. Unfortunately let down by poor corn growth.

The Last Survivors used a real nuclear bunker for a zombie apocalypse event using real guns.

One of the biggest pieces of news this year was that the seminal scare attraction, Alien War was to return to the Arches in Glasgow. Once we had announced it, the scare community got really excited about its return, especially those who had experienced it in the past. Unfortunately when it opened, we got a much watered down version of the show which left us all with a slight sour taste in our mouths. It wasn’t bad in any way – it just didn’t create the genuine pant wetting terror that previous versions had. Across the board, responses to the show have been mixed and there was quite a lot of internet backlash against it, which could explain why it is being re-launched fresh in 2013 with an updated story and new effects.

Another big event that reappeared this year was Crash of the Elysium – the Doctor Who adventure where guests were treated to all manner of effects and scares by the talented team at Punchdrunk. The show originally ran for a limited period in Manchester and then moved to Ipswich this year for an extended summer stay. Taking over a whole car park and utilising massive marquees – the event was believable from beginning to end and the one scene of a Weeping Angel attacking the group is still one of the scariest things we experienced last year.

In the summer, The Black Chasm was opened near Aberystwyth as part of the launch of the Silver Mountain Experience at an abandoned silver mine in Wales. The attraction took guests deep underground into a dark and creepy cave where all manner of murderous Orcs were waiting to pounce. With late night fright nights during summer and Halloween, the attraction has proved popular with students at the local university and was a masterpiece in design from Saturn Imagineering and Andrew Porter Designs (who then went on to create the incredible Slasher attraction at Screamfest in Burton at Halloween)

During October, a new production company More is More debuted their city wide horror event – Evil Rising, which despite possessing similar DNA to the zombie chase game 2.8 Hours Later, managed to create some impressive scare scenes including a terrifying warehouse opening. We will be visiting it again when the event returns in February and the makers have promised even more scares this time round.

Two other production companies were also launched this year after attending ScareCON in May. Primrose Unknown Projects have already created two small charity events and Massacre Productions have something up their sleeves for early this year.

Things looked really good on the permanent scare attraction front this summer, when The Fear opened in Brighton. Planned to be a year round show, Fear called in the talented crew from – SIGA Creative to create a highly themed and immersive experience that delivered an impressive rosta of scares comparable in the UK only to the London Tombs. We visited Fear a number of times throughout the year including their extreme Halloween event but unfortunately due to reasons unknown, it was announced at the end of the year that the attraction would close down for the foreseeable future. Whether this was a victim of the current global recession or the choice of location, is unknown and no reopening date has been set.

Mary had a little lamb but she murdered it! At Screamfest Burton

Roaming character at Broadwitch Hauntfest

So talking of closures – we also had another permanent attraction close down this year when Death Trap unceremoniously shut down to make room for further expansion at County Hall in London. Those of us who experienced the final runs of Death Trap all reported a show that had been beefed up and was providing quality scares time and time again. Whether this was the cast bowing out with one last brave hoorah or an attempt to save the show we don’t know, but when it closed down unexpectedly 2 days earlier than advertised many people lost the chance to get one more scare.

Of course many people believe that the demise of Death Trap was due to the badly kept secret that The London Dungeon was due to move from its address in Tooley Street. We can only speculate what deals may have been struck behind the scenes, but the new London Dungeon does not use the same floor space or rooms as Death Trap. It would have been interesting to see them operate next to each other, but alas that will never happen. Within days of closing, the room used for Death Trap was stripped and emptied.

The build of the new Dungeon has continued apace for the last few months and it is due to open on March 1st. With new shows and improved rides, the complete overhaul should return it to its position as the best Dungeon in the UK. Elsewhere, at the other Dungeon attractions, new shows were added including the terrifying Witches of Warwick, William Wallace in Edinburgh and Execution at York. Unfortunately York Dungeon suffered a massive flood earlier this year and has had to undergo major refurbishment and repair. It is expected to open in March 2013.

With the departure of the Dungeon from Tooley Street it will be interesting to see how The London Bridge Experience gets on. It could be a massive opportunity for them to get their own market and really succeed in the area, but the lure of Merlin’s other attractions and multi attraction tickets could pull people away. 2012 was certainly a rollercoaster year for The London Bridge Experience, with exciting new features and effects added earlier in the year, through to the legal wrangling that necessitated a formal name change to The Crypts for a short time, followed by the complete sale of the business to new owners. With the closure of Pasaje del Terror last year and Death Trap this year, it would be a shame to lose the Tombs, but the new management have bold and exciting plans to build on the reputation the attraction already has.

The only other scare attraction in London at the moment is the quick walkthrough at Madame Tussauds – Scream: One Way out, which has continued to thrill visitors to the famous waxworks museum. Including this one, it is interesting to note how many scare or scare related attractions or events Merlin Entertainments operates – the four Dungeons, a Halloween party at the London Sea life centre and of course the three seasonal events at Chessington, Thorpe Park and Alton Towers.

The entrance to what used to be Death Trap in London

Ethel from Cursed at Cressing Barns in Essex.

Alton Towers has had an interesting scare history this year as they launched a new ride called Nemesis Sub Terra, which was promoted as their most terrifying experience yet but left many people on opening day wanting a bit more. Fortunately, instead of leaving the ride as it was, the parks creative team added a new ending which cranked up the fear factor with a mini scare attraction before escaping. It was a simple but bold move and has greatly increased the whole experience.

For Halloween, the park replaced the tired Boiler House with The Sanctuary which garnered great reviews from virtually everyone who checked in. Eschewing many of the gimmicks that most attractions were trying, The Sanctuary went back to the old school, with a solid attraction with an interesting back story, impressive scenes and a great use of unused rooms and cellars in the Towers. The attraction is somehow tied in with the new rollercoaster opening in Spring and was not removed at the end of the year which still points to it being potentially opened at the start of the park’s opening season as part of the promotion for the new ride.

So onto Halloween itself. Wow! Where do we start? 2012 was definitely our busiest ever for visiting different shows and attractions up and down the country and we managed to experience the best that the UK has to offer. One of our favourite events in 2011 was Freak Week at Hop Farm and in 2012 this just got even bigger and better. Using some ingenious tricks, but also rewriting the rule book in places, Hop Farm managed to pull off 5 mazes of equal quality in an event filled with great food, festival music and fairground rides.

There’s too much other stuff to go into but some of the different things seen this year included – everyone wearing masks (The Symmetery at York Maze), guests being hooded (The Passing at Thorpe Park) and complete darkness (The Dark at PrimEVIL). Fearmasters decided to buck the trend of other “Scream parks” and told one complete story from beginning to end with the terrifying Sanctuary event. Lasting over 2 hours in total, the event was fully immersive with 5 massive scare attractions lined up along the route. One final event that we must mention is the incredible Halloween Horrors at Fort Amherst – an event that redefines the meaning of hands on, and left us all shaking long after the show was over!

We don’t have space to mention every other Halloween event but must thank everyone who invited us along last year – for a full listing check out the main site.

Zombie Manor House utilises a genuine Georgian house and its abandoned grounds.

Saw Alive at Thorpe Park opened at the start of 2012 but within a month was changed to operate at Halloween only.

Of course – it’s not just about Halloween anymore and more and more out of season events keep cropping up. AtmosFEAR! presented Horror Camp Live where poor campers were subjected to a night of games and fear under canvas as well as a family scare attraction called CarnEVIL of Horrors in Blackpool. GNG presented the twisted Scary Tales Live and the terrifying (for all the wrong reasons) Project Fear – the nearest any of us have ever come to being tortured in real life! Probably the biggest exponents of out of season scares were the talented team from Kernow Scare Attractions who hosted Hellys Asylum in May followed by the popular Phobia event which toured a number of large festivals during the summer.

A new walk through attraction opened at Adventure Island in Southend on Sea.

Mission of Fear was a brand new scare event at Jungleland soft play area in Telford.

But surely the biggest craze outside of Halloween in 2012 has to have been zombies? Whether it is the success of The Walking Dead on television or just the continued fascination with the mindless flesh eaters, but it would seem everyone wanted a piece of the action. What this year saw though was a move a way from linear walkthrough attractions as we know them and the creation of half day events and scenarios where people were able to feel what it would be like to be stuck inside a zombie holocaust. All of these zombie games shared similar traits although all handled things a bit differently. Some relied upon amazing atmospheric and real scenarios such as an abandoned manor house, shopping mall or nuclear bunker while others went for a different take on the experience with zombies physically attacking us in Zombie Boot Camp or sharing survival tips during the Zombie Survival Weekender. Most of these events used some type of weapon to allow you to fight back and defend yourself. The key thing in all of these games was that zombie killing was fun but we all know from the movies that the only way to really disable a zombie is to shoot it in the head. Fortunately the team at Zombie Outbreak understood this and created special zombie face masks that would allow full head shots with paintball guns. We appreciate that many of these events are a lot more expensive than a standard scare attraction, but they are a valid form of scare entertainment and can be even more terrifying due to the fact that you can often control the outcome!

Even though we were bound and blindfolded, this character tried to get us into his coffin at Project Fear

The Orcs from The Black Chasm in a rare daytime photo opportunity.

On the business side, a key date in the scare calendar is the annual ScareCON event which was held in Blackpool at the suitably old and creepy Norbreck Castle hotel. The event gets bigger and better each year with an impressive turnout of experienced attraction owners and new companies looking to take the next step into the world of scare. The event is designed to be accessible to everyone and shows how the majority of the UK scare industry is interested in working together to share common experiences and products and promote scary stuff. It is a chance for like minded people to interact with their peers in a relaxed atmosphere. Full details of the 2013 event will be announced very soon.

Finally, to wind things up lets go back to ScareTOUR. We are now entering our 4th year of bringing you the best and most comprehensive reviews and news in the UK and we will continue to do this through 2013. Last year we broke some of the big news stories of the year (the return of Alien War, the reveal of the Sanctuary to name but a few) and will continue to bring you relevant and exiting news and features throughout the whole year. On top of this we will continue to run trips and meet ups and endeavour to get behind the scenes tours such as our visits to Alton Towers and Thorpe Park, or discounted admission such as Alien War, Evil Rising etc.). Keep following us on Facebook and twitter for the latest competitions, news features and more.

So with the whole year ahead of us – what does the future hold for the UK scare industry? It’s hard to tell. It's clear that we are going through a hard time with the economy and while the scare industry remains as fractured as it has been allowed to become over recent years – it's is hard to see how things are going to get any better. Perhaps 2013 is the year that petty jealousies and differences are put to one side and the industry works together as a whole. You know what? That is a scary thought!

Dare you spend a night in the All Hallows scarerooms?

With the lights out - this was terrifying. At Hop Farm Freak Week Festival.

To finish up we would like to say a warm thank you to everyone who has supported the site in the last year. Whether you just read us on a regular basis, join in on or Facebook page, have attended a trip, entered a competition or sent in a You Review - we thank you - we couldn't do this without you!

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